Philip Webb

When Philip sent his bio he attached samples of his work. He said, apart from the two samples of computer photo shop the rest are done with water-colour by hand. I have sent far too many so just delete those you don’t need. Sorry Philip, I’m not in the mood for deletion today! So we’re in for a treat……….

Introducing Philip Webb

Philip at work on Fly Pie

I was born in England but my family decided to live in Hong Kong and Kenya before finally settling by the beach at Waihi Beach in 1963.

I often go back there and love being on the beach each time, but my home now is overlooking the Wellington harbour. The sea and sky scape are forever changing. I could never be far from the sea, no matter what the weather.

Pip the Penguin

The poem I’m going to work on for the exhibition chose me. It brought back memories of a visit to the Catlins. The weather most of the time was wintry and stormy which just added to the atmosphere. The wild rugged coastline and the windswept trees I found very inspiring and taking the wild surroundings in their stride were the yellow eyed penguins feeding and generally leading their daily lives.

As I write this I am not sure how the image will turn out. Whether it will be a painting or a children’s book illustration. I will be going through the same process of numerous roughs. Never short of ideas; the problem is choosing which one!

I have been a freelance illustrator for children’s books for most of my life following a twelve-year period at TVNZ working as a graphic designer. This was in the days before computers arrived to take over from the drudgery of painting frame by frame cells for animation.

Mouse and moon

Most of my illustration has been in pen/pencil and water-colour but more recently I have been using photo shop on the computer.I have a diploma in graphic design from Wellington Polytechnic (now Massey University) and have received two NZ Post book awards.